The administration of drugs using oral vehicles retained in the buccal cavity is known. Such administration is generally effected by inserting an oral vehicle (e.g. a tablet), containing a drug, into the buccal cavity of the patient's mouth and then passing the vehicle against the mucosa of the cheek or the gum until it adheres.
Absorption of the drug in the vehicle generally occurs directly through the mucosa at the inner surface of the cheek and/or gum into the patient's bloodstream. In some cases, however, the drug may be absorbed gastrically or enterally by the absorption of drug contained in swallowed saliva.
The buccal method of drug administration has considerable advantages over administration by, for example, swallowing a tablet or injection. One advantage is that administration can be discontinued at any time (e.g. when undesired effects arising from the administration are identified) simply by removing the remainder of the vehicle. Another advantage over oral administration, is that first pass drug metabolism may be avoided.
A particular problem associated with the buccal administration of drugs, however, is that the oral vehicle containing the drug tends, after a period of time, to become detached from the mucosa. At best this can be merely inconvenient, at worst it may lead to the patient swallowing the vehicle.